I was surprised to find how few people here speak English. Not that I expect them to, of course; I’m not that arrogant of a tourist! But throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, and even Africa, I could always find someone who spoke a little English to help with translation. Here, I am relying more on pantomime and Google Translate, while I try to dust off my high school Spanish skills.
I am proud to say that I can now order breakfast in Spanish. (Café con leche grande, una medialuna, dos magdalenas). Food here is dirt cheap; I can have a full breakfast for under $5.00.
The Google Translate app has been a lifesaver. If you are going abroad, I highly recommend it. It’s especially useful for translating menus. Just hover over the menu with your phone, and voila, you get an English-version menu.
4 responses to “Hablo Un Poco de Español”
So you took Spanish in high school. Was it with Miss Borkowski? She was my favorite teacher at Harding and launched me on seven consecutive years of high school and college Spanish. I googled her a few years ago and was sad to learn that she died way too early, at only 64 years old.
Yes, Harding High Spanish! Mine was with Mrs. Beach. She was pretty good, more and more of my Spanish is coming back to me now. I actually ended up babysitting her daughter for a while. Do you remember Miss Ilkowitz? She was one of my favorites. I googled her a while back and found out she had passed away also.
I do remember Miss Ilkowitz, I had her for two classes and she was friends with my next door neighbor. She was a gem. How sad that she passed.
Miss Illkowitz shaped by world-view and my preoccupation with how all of history is linked. I am sure she didn’t even know that she had done that because I am sure that I did not share with her my Bismarck moment in her European History class.